Toolbox for displaying tools

ABSTRACT

A toolbox for displaying tools has a box body, a lid and an adjusting connector secured between the box body and the lid. The adjusting connector has a pivot nub and a pair of pivot pins respectively and selectively connected with the box body and the lid. Thereby, the lid can rotate to different orientations such as different inclinations and plan directions. Moreover, the pivot nub and the pivot pins all have corrugated periphery and the box body and the lid have corresponding corrugated holes to engage with the pivot nub and pivot pins so that the lid can be positioned at the different orientation to display tools in a convenient and versatile manner.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a toolbox, and more particularly to a toolbox that has a rotatable lid to display tools in different orientations.

2. Description of Related Art

With reference to FIG. 8, a conventional toolbox basically comprises a box body (90) and a lid (91) pivotally connected with each other by means of hinges formed as flexible plastic sheets (92) integrally extending between the box body (90) and the lid (91). When a user wants to take tool bits from the toolbox, the lid (91) has to be lifted up to open the toolbox. However, the flexible plastic sheets (92) eventually crack and fracture due to work hardening whereby the toolbox has a short use lifetime.

In order to accommodate more tool bits inside the toolbox, the lid (91) is also designed to have multiple recesses or hanging racks formed on an inner face of the lid (91). The advantage of the lid (91) with a display feature has become adopted by many manufacturers. When the lid (91) is rotated and positioned in different orientations, the lid (91) can further function as a display panel. Moreover, the user can conveniently access the tool bits by simply rotating the lid (91) only, instead of turning the whole toolbox.

The present invention has arisen to mitigate or obviate the disadvantages of the conventional toolbox.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The main objective of the present invention is to provide a toolbox that has a rotatable lid to position in different orientations to display the tools in a convenient and versatile manner.

Further benefits and advantages of the present invention will become apparent after a careful reading of the detailed description with appropriate reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a toolbox for displaying tools in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the toolbox in FIG. 1, wherein the toolbox is closed;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the toolbox in FIG. 2, wherein the toolbox is opened;

FIG. 4 is an operational perspective view of the toolbox in FIG. 3, wherein a lid is rotated to an orientation which is perpendicular to that shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is another operational perspective view of the toolbox wherein the lid is rotated to an orientation 180° in relation to the position of the lid in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is still another operational side view of the toolbox in FIG. 3, wherein the lid is positioned at different inclined angles;

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of another embodiment of the toolbox for displaying tools in accordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 8 is a side view of a conventional toolbox in accordance with the prior art.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

A toolbox for displaying tools in accordance with the present invention comprises a box body, a lid and an adjusting connector secured between the box body and the lid. The adjusting connector has a pivot nub and a pair of pivot pins respectively and selectively connected with the box body and the lid. Thereby, the lid can rotate to different orientations such as different inclinations and plan directions. Moreover, the pivot nub and the pivot pins all have corrugated peripheries and the box body and lid have corresponding corrugated holes to engage with the pivot nub and pivot pins so that the lid can be positioned at the different orientations.

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, a preferred embodiment of the toolbox for displaying tools in accordance with the present invention comprises an adjusting connector (10), a box body (20) and a lid (30).

The adjusting connector (10) has an elongated rectangular rod with a top face and a bottom face, an axle bar (11), a pair of pivot pins (12), a pivot nub (13) and at least one stub (15). The axle bar (11) is formed on the bottom face of the elongated rectangular rod and has two ends. The two pivot pins (12) are respectively formed at the two ends of the axle bar (11). Preferably, each pivot pin (12) has a corrugated periphery. The pivot nub (13) is mounted on the top face of the elongated rectangular rod and has an enlarged head (14) and a slit (16). The enlarged head (14) serves as a locking device when the pivot nub (13) engages with a corresponding hole. The slit (16) is longitudinally defined through the pivot nub (13) so that the pivot nub (13) is deformable when the pivot nub (13) wedges into the corresponding hole.

The box body (20) is pivotally attached to the bottom face of the adjusting connector (10) and is rectangular with a front edge, a rear edge, two sides, two pivot bases (21) and a locking block (23). The two pivot bases (21) are formed at the rear edge respectively near the two sides to define a space for accommodating the axle bar (11) in the space. Each pivot base (21) has an inner edge facing to the other one and further has a corrugated hole (22) defined in the inner edge to engage a corresponding one of the pivot pins (12). The locking block (23) is formed at the front edge.

The lid (30) is rotatably mounted on the top face of the adjusting connector (10) and is also rectangular with a front edge, a rear edge, two sides, a nub hole (31) a clip sheet (32) and two detents (33). The nub hole (31) is defined in the bottom face of the lid (30) and corresponding engages with the pivot nub (13) on the adjusting connector (10). The clip sheet (32) is formed at the front edge of the cover body (30) to detachably engage the locking block (23) on the box body (20) to selectively lock the toolbox. The two detents (33) are defined on the rear edge respectively near the two sides of the lid (30) and correspondingly engage the two stubs (15) on the adjusting connector (10) to temporarily keep the lid (30) in position. Thereby, the lid (30) can be positioned on the adjusting connector (10) in parallel with the adjusting connector (10).

With reference to FIGS. 3 and 6, when the toolbox is opened, the clip sheet (32) releases the locking block (23) to allow the lid (30) to be raised. By adjusting the pivot pins (12) to mate with the corrugated hole (22) section by section, the lid (30) can be positioned at different inclinations. With further reference to FIGS. 3 to 5, by rotating the lid (30) on the pivot nub (13), the lid (30) can face every plan direction without turning the box body (20). By attaching the adjusting connector (10) between the box body (20) and the lid (30), the lid (30) can be positioned in different orientation no matter in inclination or in plan direction.

With reference to FIG. 7, another preferred embodiment of the toolbox in accordance with the present invention comprises the same structures with the former one except the modification at the adjusting connector (40). The adjusting connector (40) has the pivot nub (44) formed on the bottom face and the nub hole (61) is correspondingly formed on the rear end of the box body (60). The pivot nub (44) also has an enlarged head (44) and the slit (46) is longitudinally defined in the pivot nub (44). Preferably, the pivot nub (44) and the nub hole (61) both have corrugated peripheries matching with each other to enable the adjusting connector (40) to be positioned in different plan directions.

Moreover, engagement between the lid (50) and the adjusting connector (40) is changed, wherein the adjusting connector (40) is received inside the lid (50) so that the lid (50) has a recess (51) defined at the rear edge to accommodate the adjusting connector (40). The adjusting connector (40) has the two pivot pins (41) formed at the two sides and each pivot pin (41) has a corrugated periphery. Correspondingly, the recess further has two opposite inner walls and two corrugated holes (52) respectively defined in the two opposite inner walls to engage with the pivot pins. By adjusting the pivot pins (41) to rotate inside the corrugated holes (52) section by section, the lid (50) can be positioned at different inclinations.

According to the above description, the toolbox in accordance with the present invention has a lid rotatably engaged with the box body by setting the adjusting connector between the lid and the box body. Therefore, it is convenient to display the tools on the lid in a versatile manner and take the tools from the lid without turning the whole toolbox.

Although the invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiment, many other possible modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed. 

1. A toolbox for displaying tools, the toolbox comprising: a box body (20); a lid (30); and an adjusting connector (10) having a pivot nub (13) and a pair of pivot pins (12) formed on the adjusting connector (10), wherein the pivot nub (13) and the pair of pivot pins (12) are respectively and pivotally connected with the box body (20) and the lid (30).
 2. The toolbox as claimed in claim 1, wherein the box body (20) is a parallelepiped with a front edge and a rear edge and having two pivot bases (21) formed at the rear edge of the box body (20) to define a space between the two pivot bases, each pivot base (21) has an inner edge and a corrugated hole defined in the inner edge; the lid (30) is a parallelepiped with a front edge and a rear edge and having a nub recess (31) defined in the rear edge of the lid (30); the adjusting connector (10) is an elongated rectangular rod with a top face, a bottom face and having: an axle bar (11) with two ends formed on the bottom face of the adjusting connector (10) to be received inside the gap between the two pivot bases (21) on the box body (20); two pivot pins (12) respectively formed at the two ends of the axle bar (11) to correspondingly engage the corrugated holes (22) on the pivot bases (21); and a pivot nub (13) formed on the top face of the adjusting connector (20) to rotatably engage the nub recess (31) on the lid (30).
 3. The toolbox as claimed in claim 2, wherein the pivot nub (13) and the nub recess (31) both have corrugated peripheries matching with each other.
 4. The toolbox as claimed in claim 3, wherein the pivot nub (13) further comprises an enlarged head (14) and a slit (16) longitudinally defined in the pivot nub (13).
 5. The toolbox as claimed in claim 3, wherein the adjusting connector (10) further has two stubs (15) formed on the top face of the adjusting connector (10); the lid (30) further has two detents defined on the rear edge of the lid (30) to correspondingly engage the stubs (15) on the adjusting connector (10).
 6. The toolbox as claimed in claim 3, wherein the lid (30) further has a clip sheet (32) formed on the front edge of the lid (30); the box body (20) further has a locking block (23) formed on the front edge of the box body (20) to detachably engage with the clip sheet (32) on the lid (30).
 7. The toolbox as claimed in claim 1, wherein the box body (60) is a parallelepiped with a front edge and a rear edge and having a nub hole (61) defined on the rear edge of the box body (60); the lid (50) is a parallelepiped with a front edge and a rear edge and having a recess (51) defined in the rear edge of the to receive the adjusting connector (40), wherein the recess (51) has two opposite inner walls and two corrugated holes (52) respectively defined in the two opposite inner walls; the adjusting connector (40) is an elongated rectangular rod with two ends, a top face, a bottom face and having: two pivot pins (41) respectively formed at the two ends of the adjusting connector (40) to correspondingly engage the corrugated holes (52) in the recess (51); and a pivot nub (43) formed on the bottom face of the adjusting connector (40) to rotatably engage the nub recess (61) on the box body (60).
 8. The toolbox as claimed in claim 7, wherein the pivot nub (43) and the nub recess (61) both have corrugated peripheries matching with each other.
 9. The toolbox as claimed in claim 8, wherein the pivot nub (43) further comprises an enlarged head (44) and a slit (46) longitudinally defined in the pivot nub (43).
 10. The toolbox as claimed in claim 9, wherein the lid (50) further has a clip sheet formed on the front edge of the lid (50); the box body (60) further has a locking block formed on the front edge of the box body (60) to detachably engage with the clip sheet on the lid (50). 